


Color My Life

by BreeTaylor



Series: Soulmate AUs [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Soulmates, sad cheesy soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 20:39:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5470139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BreeTaylor/pseuds/BreeTaylor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you meet your soulmate for the first time color comes to your life. When they die, it's ripped away along with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Color My Life

When Ryan was little he didn’t understand the concept of color. Everyone around him always described it as this wonderful, life altering thing and the other kids in his age group seemed to dream about it, but he just didn’t get it. He didn’t understand what was so special about it. Still, it was disheartening to be surrounded by people experiencing its apparent wonders for the first time every day. All around him people were meeting their soul mates and Ryan had started to believe that he would never meet his person.

By the time he started at Rooster Teeth he’d lost almost all hope in finding them. He was in his thirties, and having a world of black and white at his age was becoming rarer by the day. The childish hope he woke up with all through college had faded into a bitter disapproval of the entire concept. Which is why he wasn’t expecting anything life changing to happen when walking into the loud and chaotic Achievement Hunter office on his second day.

When his eyes landed on a squawking, messy haired man, pinned to the ground by a laughing Geoff, his world exploded into color and all at once he felt the air leave his lungs. It was so much more than he was expecting. It was breathtaking, life altering… everything everyone said it would be. And there, staring wide-eyed up at him, was the cause of it all.

“Uh… hi.” Ryan said awkwardly, all eyes moving to him as the man shoved at Geoff’s chest in an attempt to get him off. “I’m Ryan.”

“You’re so…” He stumbled to his feet, trying to keep his eyes on Ryan as he did so. The British accent was a bit of a shock, but just finally hearing his voice did funny things to Ryan’s brain. He was far from graceful, and it caused Ryan’s heartbeat to flutter. When his fingers reached out to brush his cheek he felt warmth fill him. “You’re so lovely.”

Ryan didn’t know what to say to that, because surely he was talking about the wrong person.  _He_  was the breathtaking one, eyes green and vivid and so  _alive_  where Ryan’s were blue and dull and hopeless. They were such polar opposites and yet he already felt like they just… worked.

“That’s the gayest thing he’s ever said,” A voice stage whispered from behind them, “And he says a lot of gay shit to me.”

“Michael,” He said politely, eyes still locked on Ryan, “I have just found my soul mate and you are ruining the moment.”

Ryan smiled at the statement, at the words being said aloud.  _Soul mate._ Something he’d longed for so long, finally a reality. “I still don’t know your name,” He said quietly, barely more than breath leaving his lungs.

“Gavin.” Gavin smiled, his whole face lighting up, “I’m Gavin.”

“Nice to finally meet you.”

* * *

After living in a world of color for almost two years, Ryan was finally starting to understand why everyone had been so caught up on it. Even after so much time, he still found himself in awe of it at times, of the beauty of it. It helped that he got Gavin along with it, though. The Britt brought nothing but playfulness and joy to Ryan’s life and he doubted he’d ever grow tired of it.

Out of the two of them, he always thought he’d be the one to hurt Gavin. To leave him too soon in a world void of color. It wasn’t a thought he enjoyed having, but he’d always thought of Gavin as too full of life and unselfishness to ever have anything bad happen to him, and really… he probably should’ve lived a happy, peaceful life. But accidents happen, especially when dangerous stunts are involved. Gavin was devoted to his job, almost as much as he was to Ryan, and if that meant pulling some sort of dangerous shoot for a Slow Mo Guys video, he’d do it.

Ryan wasn’t sure who had the bright idea to give Gavin—who was naturally the clumsiest person in Rooster Teeth—a grenade. Even if it was supposed to be a dud, it was too easy for things to go wrong, and did things ever. He wasn’t there when it happened. While Gavin was out in some supposedly accident proof field, Ryan was hunched over a computer, frustratingly working at the latest GTA video. One moment he was listening to Gavin’s confused screeching through his headset, colors flashing across the monitor quickly, and then, all at once, his world was thrown into darkness. Ryan stopped moving, stopped breathing, his entire body going numb. The video he was editing cheerily played on in the background, but Ryan couldn’t understand what was being said anymore. All he understood in that moment was that Gavin was gone.

Gavin was  _dead_.

He felt his heart begin to race, tears pooling in his eyes without any conscious thought. He managed to stumble to his feet, pulling his headphones off as he numbly moved through the office in search of a familiar face. He ran into Burnie, quite literally  _stumbled into_  the man, and immediately felt his legs go weak.

“Ryan?” Burnie asked, concern etched into his voice. “Are you okay?”

Ryan shook his head quickly, “Gavin.” He croaked, “Gavin is… Burnie, it’s so  _dark_.”

The confusion on his bosses face was quickly replaced with a mix of understanding and pity as he realized just what Ryan meant. Almost instantly he had his phone in his hand. Ryan tried to listen to the conversation, figure out what was going on, but the words made no sense to him. Nothing made sense without the color, the  _light._  He closed his eyes, head falling back against the wall. He didn’t want to see it anymore. He couldn’t bear to see the world like that anymore.

“Ryan?” Burnie asked softly, the sound of his name piercing through the darkness. “I got a hold of Dan.”

Ryan pealed his eyes open, expecting the worst, only to be met with… color. But, it wasn’t color. Not quite. It was as if he was seeing everything through a dark veil, but there was color none the less. He reached a hand out, blindly grabbing for Burnie’s arm. “He’s not dead.”

Burnie smiled sadly at him, “Ryan, there was an explosion. The grenade was supposed to be a dud and Gavin wasn’t expect—”

“Burnie, no.” Ryan said, “You don’t understand.  _He’s not dead_.”

“No one wants him to be—”

“There’s still color!” Ryan shouted, firmly shutting him up. “Its darker and… muted, but it’s still there.”

Burnie didn’t respond, instead putting his phone back to his ear and talking rapidly into it.

* * *

Ryan found out a few hours later that the world wasn’t just color or black and white like everyone seemed to believe. If your soul mate was between life and death—basically, comatose Ryan rationed—you didn’t lose it completely. Because you didn’t lose them completely. Though still not the most encouraging of words, Ryan held onto every one. Gavin still had a chance, and even lying there motionless and injured, he was beautiful.

The doctors didn’t say much, good or bad. It was the same “we can hope for the best” bullshit they told everyone. In reality, it was a miracle Gavin was alive, and if it weren’t for Ryan insisting he was he could’ve easily died. They could’ve stopped trying. Ryan could be left in total darkness.

He realized that everyone always talked about how wonderful it was to see colors, but no one ever dared speak about when they were ripped away from you. Your soul mate brought color to your life when you finally met, and they took it with them when they died. Ryan had experienced mere minutes of it and he knew indefinitely that he didn’t ever want to see that world again.

So he stayed with Gavin for as long as they let him, sometimes going as far as fighting to stay longer. He spoke to him, held his hand as he told him how concerned everyone was at RT, how concerned the community was. He told him how many people loved him and how incredibly important he was. Sometimes Ryan would break down and begged no one and everyone to take him instead because he was so much less important than Gavin. He didn’t carry the sun in his smile or the stars in his eyes like Gavin did.

The more time that passed, the more worried Ryan got. The more frightened he became. At times the colors would darken and he would feel everything stop: his heart, his breath, his brain, all waiting for the next move. Things always leveled back out, though, and he would breathe a sigh of relief and hold Gavin’s hand a bit tighter.

Three months after the incident Ryan felt Gavin’s finger twitch, and the colors brightened just a little bit. With each passing days things seemed to brighten and Ryan felt like he could breathe again. When Gavin finally,  _finally_  opened his eyes Ryan wasn’t surprised or shocked because moments before his world had brightened again and he knew. He knew that despite all odds, Gavin was okay. And when those green eyes met his again, he couldn’t stop himself from pulling Gavin close and pressing a kiss to the top of his head, even as his tears fell onto his hair.

“Hey, Rye-bread.” Gavin croaked out, “Sorry I left.”


End file.
